Discover Creativity With 2 5 Year Olds

Discover Creativity with 2–5 Year Olds explores young children’s creative development and shares important insight as to why and how practitioners can encourage their natural curiosity. It will help early years practitioners and professionals to rediscover the joy of working creatively with young children and how to support them in developing their ideas, thoughts and feelings through creative expression and opportunities. The book provides an in-depth account of what creativity is and how best to support children in their creative endeavours. Covering the prime areas of the early years foundation stage, it is packed with engaging, cost-effective and achievable activity ideas to support the young creative mind. Including case studies, discussion boxes and reflective points, the chapters consider key topics underpinned by theoretical perspectives including: - Understanding he unique differences and needs of toddlers and pre-school children - Forming respectful relationships and understanding the impact they can have on creativity - Developing the environment and resources that enable creativity - Exploring outdoors and how to make the most of time with young children outside - Encouraging a process over product mindset - Understanding the role of the adult in supporting creative thinking and exploration This wonderful guide will inspire practitioners and equip them with the tools they need to fully support and cultivate the curious and creative side to every child.

Tap into children's natural curiosity and scaffold their creative abilities across all domains of learning--and nurture your own creativity!

Winner of the 2015 Parent's Choice Award The perfect starting point for creative play, this is the ultimate book of ideas for arts and crafts, building and tinkering, writing and rhyming, singing and dancing, and more! For parents who don't feel they are creative, this book provides an easy entry point for raising creative kids. Creativity is an essential ingredient for a happy childhood, and this is the ultimate collection of ideas for arts and crafts, building and tinkering, writing and rhyming, singing and dancing, and more! With 500 unplugged, hands-on activities for children ages two to twelve, this book goes beyond the simple arts and crafts found in most kids’ creativity books and offers fun ideas for a generous range of imaginative and creative play—all in one giant book. You have the power to encourage creativity in your child’s daily life, whether you feel creative yourself or not. This book is your guide for being a creativity mentor, your handbook for raising kids rich with creative habits and skills, and your toolbox full of ideas and activities. So say YES to creativity! Encourage your child to dabble in all kinds of activities, and discover the magic and beauty of imagination.

The Highlights Book of Things to Do is the essential book of pure creativity and inspiration. Kids ages seven and up will find hundreds of ways to build, play, experiment, craft, cook, dream, think, and become outstanding citizens of the world. This highly visual, hands-on activity book shows kids some of the best ways to do great things--from practicing the lost arts of knot-tying, building campfires, connecting circuits, playing jump rope, drawing maps, and writing letters, to learning how to empower themselves socially, emotionally, and in their communities. The final chapter, Do Great Things, inspires kids become caring individuals, confident problem solvers, and thoughtful people who can change the world. Full List of Chapters: Things to Do Inside Things to Do Outside Science Experiments to Do Things to Build Things to Do with Your Brain Things to Do in the Kitchen Things to Draw Things to Write Things to Do with Color Things to Do with Paper More Things to Do with Recycled Materials Do Great Things National Parenting Seal of Approval Winner, National Parenting Product Award (NAPPA) Winner, Mom's Choice Award, Gold

The Creative Curriculum comes alive! This videotape-winner of the 1989 Silver Apple Award at the National Educational Film and Video Festival-demonstrates how teachers set the stage for learning by creating a dynamic well-organized environment. It shows children involved in seven of the interest areas in the The Creative Curriculum and explains how they learn in each area. Everyone conducts in-service training workshops for staff and parents or who teaches early childhood education courses will find the video an indispensable tool for explainin appropriate practice.

This book explores creative development in babies and shows how practitioners can support even the youngest child’s natural curiosity and help them to develop their ideas, thoughts and feelings. It provides engaging, cost-effective and achievable activity ideas to support the developing creative mind, covering the outdoors; communication and language; and personal, social, emotional and physical development. Including discussion boxes, case studies and reflective points in every chapter, Day offers guidance and insight into key topics and well-known theories, including how and why to facilitate creativity, adult-baby relationships and attachment, the environment and resources that enable creativity and outdoor exploration and play. Discover Creativity with Babies is a wonderful guide for early years practitioners looking to support and cultivate the curious and creative side to every child, however they may choose to express it.

Encourage tinkering, curiosity, and creative thinking in children of all ages with these 55 hands-on activities that explore art, science, and more The creator of the highly popular creativity site for kids, Tinkerlab.com, now delivers dozens of engaging, kid-tested, and easy-to-implement projects that will help parents and teachers bring out the natural tinkerer in every kid—even babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. The creative experiments shared in this book foster curiosity, promote creative and critical thinking, and encourage tinkering—mindsets that are important to children growing up in a world that values independent thinking. In addition to offering a host of activities that parents and teachers can put to use right away, this book also includes a buffet of recipes (magic potions, different kinds of play dough, silly putty, and homemade butter) and a detailed list of materials to include in the art pantry.

Young Children and the Arts: Nurturing Imagination and Creativity examines the place of the arts in the experiences of young and very young children at home and in out-of-home settings at school and in the community. There is great need for development of resources in the arts specifically designed to introduce babies and toddlers to participatory experiences in the visual arts, dance, music, and storytelling/theater. This book presents valuable guidelines for early childhood teachers, families, caregivers and community organizations. Young Children and the Arts presents a comprehensive approach to the arts that is aligned with early childhood developmentally appropriate practice and that combines an exploratory, materials-based approach with an aesthetic-education approach for children from birth to eight years of age. It addresses both how the arts are foundational to learning, and how teachers and parents can nurture young children’s developing imagination and creativity. The models presented emphasize a participatory approach, introducing young children to the arts through activities that call for engagement, initiative and creative activity. Additionally, Young Children and the Arts addresses the intersection of early childhood education and the arts—at points of convergence, and at moments of tension. The role of families and communities in developing and promoting arts suffused experiences for and with young children are addressed. Young Children and the Arts examines the role of innovative arts policy in supporting a broad-based early arts program across the diverse settings in which young children and their families live, work, and learn.

Reviews of the first edition “In addition to expected information about developmental stages and caregiver response, Duffy discusses diversity and accessibility issues that affect children’s response to opportunities to express their creativity … an admirably detailed guide to creativity for persons involved in caring for young children.” Education Review “The strength of Bernadette Duffy’s book is her ability to share through tables, examples, theory and reflections her deep understanding of children’s creative process…” Montessori International Magazine Learning through the arts has the potential to stimulate open ended activity that encourages discovery, exploration, experimentation and invention, thus contributing to children’s development in all areas of learning and helping to make the curriculum meaningful to them. Bernadette Duffy draws on her extensive experience of promoting young children's creativity and imagination to examine how visual representations, music, dance, imaginative play and drama can enable children to express their feelings, thoughts and responses. She highlights examples of good practice and provides practical guidance for those working with young children in a variety of settings, including home, school and centre-based care. Updated throughout, this second edition considers creativity and imagination in the light of contemporary initiatives such as Every Child Matters, Birth to Three Matters, Sure Start and the Foundation Stage curriculum. Supporting Creativity and Imagination in the Early Years is essential reading for early years practitioners and students, as well as anyone who delights in young children's learning and development and wants to explore new ways of supporting it.

Documentation and Inquiry in the Early Childhood Classroom explores teacher inquiry, reflection, and research and the documentation of these processes within a variety of school sites and models. Compiling underrepresented inquiry stories from practicing teachers and administrators in early childhood (0–5) classrooms in the San Francisco Bay Area, this book highlights the power of the community in supporting professional development for early childhood educators and the education of young children. Important elements addressed include teacher learning, children’s curricula, parent and community communication, and equity and social justice for teachers, children, and families.